Advanced Biorefineries for the Production of Fuel Ethanol

Hughes, Stephen R.; Gibbons, William R.; Kohl, Scott

doi:10.1002/9780470750025.ch4

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 29 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…In 1896, Henry Ford built the first automobile to run on pure ethanol; however, the prohibition era in the U.S. (1919)(1920)(1921)(1922)(1923)(1924)(1925)(1926)(1927)(1928)(1929)(1930)(1931)(1932)(1933) marked the end of ethanol and the rise of gasoline as an automobile fuel ("Ethanol history", 2010; Gustafson, 2010). The 1973 energy crises once again made ethanol fuel more interesting and the U.S. began exploring ways to encourage its corn-grain ethanol industry (Hoffman & Baker, 2010;Hughes, Gibbons, & Kohl, 2009;Nixon, 1973). Later, the U.S. corn-grain ethanol industry's growth was supported by the 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) and the 1992 Energy Policy Act (EPAC).…”

Section: Corn-grain Ethanolmentioning

confidence: 99%

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2016

BPB

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Due to climate change concerns, governments and consumers are demanding higher environmental accountability for transportation fuels, particularly as related to carbon emissions. Additionally, the U.S. policymakers are seeking renewable alternatives to enhance energy security, reduce oil price volatility and increase rural economic development opportunities. Such factors present an emerging market opportunity for lignocellulosic materials to be used as biofuels. But this oppiortunity also has a number of associated challenges, particularly in terms of scaling up. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the emerging biofuels sector in the U.S. It begins with first generation corn-grain ethanol and biodiesel, today's most widely available biofuels within the U.S. The paper argues that further growth of these biofuels may be limited by the "blend wall", the "food-versus-fuel" debate, and land use change inssues. As a result, industrial, governmental and academic research interests have shifted to second and third generation biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass and algae to address GHG emissions, land use change, and the food-fuel issue. We outline that there are several limitations in scalingup these hydrocarbon drop-in biofuels which include feedstock costs and availability, high production and capital costs, policy uncertainty, and various technical, environmental and social issues. Overall, this paper synthesizes the extant literature and draws on secondary sources to present a comprehensive and current inventory of existing U.S. biofuel players and a thorough review of the U.S. biofuels industry.

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Section: Corn-grain Ethanolmentioning

confidence: 99%